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Manjaro 18 Fedora 29
Manjaro is fast becoming a major player in the desktop Linux scene. It’s a rolling distribution based on Arch. Manjaro doesn’t use the Arch repos, so it’s not quite as bleeding edge as its progenitor, but this means that packages are subject to some extra testing. Meaning Manjaro users aren’t necessarily bitten by the same bugs that feed on Arch users. At the same time, Manjaro avails its users of a package selection much newer than their fixed release distro-using brethren. They also have the choice to switch to the Testing or Unstable Channels if they want to live closer to or on the edge.
Manjaro also diverges from Arch’s DIY approach, insofar as you get a friendly installer that will partition your disk for you, set up graphics drivers, and more. This makes the distribution perfectly suitable for novices and experts alike. A minimalist NET edition is available for those that want more control over what gets installed, but again this is still easier than straight up installing Arch.
We’ve gone for the KDE edition this time, so you’ll be treated to a flashy desktop powered by the latest Plasma 5.14 awesomeness. Our resident Plasma sycophant Jonni never grows tired of telling strangers how it’s at once modern and traditional, stylish yet understated… they usually have walked away before he gets further, most likely to check it out for themselves. Incidentally, if you’re running this inside Qemu (possibly inspired by our virtualisation feature last issue), you might find you don’t get very far. This is because Manjaro’s hardware detection script generates a file, /etc/ xorg.conf.d/90-mwhd.conf, which specifies a non existent video card, so that the X server fails to start and no login screen is presented. The solution is to press Ctrl-Alt-F2 to log in at the console (user and password are both manjaro ) remove this file and restart the display manager with sudo systemctl restart sddm .